Joseph Bartholomew Kidd

Joseph Bartholomew Kidd (1806/08 – 1889)

Nineteen year old Scottish artist Joseph Bartholomew Kidd was employed by Audubon to produce oil reproductions of his watercolor bird paintings. Audubon’s goal was to create a “Natural History Gallery of Paintings” which was designed to promote the Birds of America, and create a separate, hopefully lucrative business venture. He supplied Kidd with specifically sized canvases for his copies, which were completed between 1831 and 1833. Kidd copied circa one-hundred of Audubon’s watercolors, truthful to the ornithological details, adding elements to the landscape such as a sky and clouds.

Their collaboration ended in 1834, and the “Natural History Gallery of Paintings” was never brought to completion.

Biography from the Archives of AskART